Let's start this press briefing of the Information Service in Geneva.
They went here in Geneva, today's Friday, 20th of October.
And I would like to start immediately by recalling the visit of the Secretary General who arrived in Egypt yesterday as part of a humanitarian mission at the moment of a profound crisis in the region.
You have been sending remarks that he gave to the press after the meeting with the Egyptian foreign Minister yesterday afternoon evening, where he reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
That means really that humanitarian workers need to be able to get the 18 and they need to be able to distribute it safely for nearly two weeks, said the Secretary General.
The people of Gaza have gone without any shipment of fuel, water, medicine and other essentials.
All these things are needed at scale and in a sustainable manner, said the Secretary General.
He also said that through its action and its openness, Egypt is showing how it's a pillar of multilateral cooperation and a ***** ping in helping to diffuse tension and ease Colosseum and pain and suffering.
He added that we know that the longer this goes on, the greater the risk of the violence spilling over.
And the Secretary General spokesperson has just announced that the Secretary General has arrived in Northern Sea night.
And to hear more about this issue, we have Ramira Ravi.
Sorry, my head is not well, Ravi for OHCHR.
Ravi, now you have an update on the human rights question.
Not important on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, with over 3700 people killed in Gaza, more than 1000 more presumed under the rubble, as well as 1300 people killed in Israel and a further 1,000,000 Palestinians, half of them children, reportedly displaced.
We implore all parties to allow the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need, wherever they are.
At the same time, we remain very concerned that Israeli forces heavy strikes are continuing across Gaza, including in the South.
The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the South, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there.
We're also very concerned about continued indiscriminate rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel.
We reiterate that all civilians captured and held by Palestinian armed groups must be released immediately and unconditionally.
The taking of hostages is prohibited by international law.
We are extremely alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and the and the increase in unlawful use of lethal force.
Since the 7th of October, our office has received reports that 69 Palestinians, including at least 15 children and one woman, have been killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank.
Yesterday, 14 people were reportedly killed in a drone strike.
Settler violence has also further increased.
6 Palestinians have been killed by armed settlers and a number of Palestinian communities have been forced from their land.
There's also been an increase in arbitrary arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and of Arab Israelis in Israel, including Palestinian activists and Palestinian workers that were previously working in Israel.
With reports of ill treatment and lack of any due process, this must cease.
For the past 13 days, many Palestinians in the West Bank have been denied freedom of movement, including being prevented from reaching hospitals to receive life saving care.
Restrictions on freedom of movement must be necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate aim.
The UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Volcker Turk, stresses that it is of paramount importance that all parties must respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities.
The principles of necessity, distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack must be respected at all times by everyone.
Let's start with the room.
Yes, Muhammad, thank you for my question.
Last night the Greek Orthodox patriarchy of Jerusalem announced that Israel army hit the church and in Gaza and strongly condemn it.
I was wondering how do you react to the shooting of a temple that considered holy for Christian and can you also condemn this incident and the offender of it?
Yes, of course we are aware of of the reported attack on the church and we condemn any attack against civilian infrastructure and that leads to the the destruction of protected buildings as well as the the death and injury of civilians.
It is unclear exactly what happened and how it happened, but we are looking into it.
Do you have any more details on the numbers of people moving north in the Gaza Strip and the dangers that they are facing in doing so?
I don't know if other colleagues might have numbers.
We're, we're hearing stories every day of people who had fled to the South based on the evacuation orders that were issued.
But after bombing continued in the South, we've heard testimony from people saying I might as well die in my own house.
So they head back up north.
And yesterday I heard from one person who said that his in laws decided to go back home up north.
They were killed overnight in an air strike.
Other questions in the room.
Let me go to the platform, Christian.
Ravina, are you investigating the hit on the hospital from two or three nights ago?
Are you investigating who might be responsible for that?
And I have a question that is more general because you don't have Archer speaking today.
I wonder what Alexander, whether they can give us an update what the UN knows about the Rafa crossing opening?
In fact, Archer is in the room is not briefing, but now he's briefing.
Can you come to the podium?
I mean, you may want to answer that first question.
On the on the hit on the hospital.
Listen, as I mentioned last Tuesday, it's becoming increasingly difficult to investigate and monitor allegations of human rights violations and international humanitarian law violations on the ground because of the inability of people to move around and also because of the communication being scuppered by electricity shortages and fuel shortages.
So even human rights defenders, our own colleagues, are having difficulty sharing information.
Having said that, we are trying to do what we can remotely to try to, to piece together what happened.
There is a clear need for an investigation, an independent investigation into what happened at the both at this hospital, but also, you know, we're talking now about 3700 people killed in Gaza and presumably 1000 more under the rubble.
These are huge numbers in just two weeks, less than two weeks.
There need to be investigations and there needs to be accountability.
Thank you very much, Musa.
The second question for for Jens, who's now with us on the podium.
First, let me just reiterate that message that we that we just got that the secretary general has arrived in northern Sinai, which is, as you know, where the Rafa crossing is.
I have the following to say on behalf of OCHA.
On behalf of the Under Secretary General, Martin Griffith, We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to make sure that an aid operation into Gaza starts as quickly as possible and with the right conditions.
We are encouraged by reports that the different sides are nearing an agreement on the modalities and that the first delivery is due to start in the next day or so.
So you want to answer the first question about the letter.
I can take the 2nd and then thank you, Musa on, on letters.
I mean, we, we prefer not to engage in a public back and forth with Member states.
The **** Commissioner will be doing bilateral engagement as needed.
But let us be clear the the attack on the hospital was unacceptable.
You saw the **** Commissioner's statement, it was unacceptable.
And we are, again, we are calling for an investigation.
There needs to be accountability.
And now of course, as I said earlier in response to Christian's question, in these circumstances, carrying out monitoring and an investigation by us, it's, it's very difficult given the difficulties on the ground.
But there is a need there.
There's an obligation and there's a need to preserve evidence, to collect and preserve evidence towards any future accountability processes.
And there are also other bodies that are actively engaged on the situation in Israel and the OPT investigative bodies, including the Commission of inquiry on Gaza, for example, including the International Criminal Court itself, which has issued a call for submissions.
Dalla dalla sis Jordan not coordinated on Martin Griffiths on the security Jordan Griffiths **** lenwood violence the.
The, the thank you very much.
What what I can say about what is going on in Cairo also to questions that I'm receiving by text is that as I mentioned, we're encouraged by reports that the different sides are nearing an agreement on the modalities and that a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so.
That is a message as of this morning, what conditions, modalities and so on the parties are, are discussing of course for the parties to comment on.
Thank you, Joseph, you I saw you, but I've got just people waiting on the line and then I come to you.
So Jens, just to clarify, so you don't have a exact time where the the UN convoy will circulate?
I mean, there's tomorrow or so, but you don't have a exact time or date that it will begin, is that correct?
And then I have another question for Robina.
So Robina, you mentioned that people do not have freedom of movement in in Gaza.
So in addition to what you said, there are too many rumours on comparing information that that we are receiving.
So have you heard that there are militias inside Gaza who do not allow people to move?
Could you confirm that or have you heard that?
No, I do not have an exact time for when these moments will take place.
That is exactly why we continue our deep and advanced negotiations with the parties, of course, of course, with the hope that they can begin as soon as possible in a way that is safe, secure, hopefully sustained and hopefully in a manner so that it can be scaled up.
If I understood your, your question correctly, I mean, we were talking about restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank as well, but you're talking just on Gaza there there's continued bombardment, there's bombardment in the South, there's bombardment in the north.
There are fuel shortages.
People aren't able to move as well for logistical reasons in addition to their fear of of violence of of being hit by, by by strikes on when the evacuation order had been issued by Israel calling on the population to to move down South, there were of course counter orders issued by Palestinian armed groups calling on them not to move.
So again, you have civilians caught in the middle of insanity and placed in impossible situations.
Whether they move, whether they stay, they're still in the midst of unacceptable violence at all times.
I've 2 questions for Yens.
First, do you know how many trucks are waiting at the border crossing and how many tonnes of goods could they carry into the Gaza Strip?
And secondly, on negotiations, are there sort of direct talks between Israel and and the Hamas?
And what is exactly the role of the SG?
Is he acting as a go between many things?
Thank you very, very much.
Yeah, I don't know how many trucks are exactly at the border.
We have, we have seen for example Egyptian Red Crescent trucks there other kind of trucks of course that that has been widely reported that they are there, they are available for this movement.
As soon as the agreement is there for a go ahead and pertaining to what the SG is doing, I will leave that to Alexander.
And Jan, on your second question, really, I don't think we can answer you on, on this kind of details.
What you have to know is that the secretary general is in Egypt.
He's there with Martin Griffiths, he's there with Rosemary Dicarlo.
These are the top humanitarian and political officials of the UN, and they are in touch with Egyptian authority, with everybody who can help to get in humanitarian aid into Gaza.
But what it has to be made clear is that they are doing what they can to have a sustained humanitarian access with a flow of aid that gets into the country in a steady way, sufficient way.
And Safeway and I just want to go to Gabrielle because then we have some follow-ups.
But maybe Gabrielle, you have a question.
My question is probably for Yens.
The amount of aid that is planned to cross into Gaza has been described by colleagues in the UN system as being a drop of water compared to the needs.
You have Doctor Ryan from WHO saying that there are 20 trucks, there should be 2000 trucks.
Is the aid plan to go into Gaza enough?
How much aid would be needed to meet the population's needs?
I don't think we have used that particular expression.
We need to have the mechanism in place whereby this can be, this can be driven in to southern Gaza.
That does not take away from our call for an immediate of humanitarian ceasefire and from our call which stands from the very, from the very start that we need to provide aid to everyone in Gaza regardless of where they are, right.
That is, that is fundamental.
We there is some reporting and you you will see in the notes that we share with you I think several times a day now with some of the numbers in terms of of tonnage that is being pre positioned here and there.
I will refer you to our reports on that.
And then you had a there was a third element to the question, if you could repeat that.
And, and that's another important point, whether it's enough right now, we don't know because we knew very clearly what the needs were before this has happened.
Now things have changed dramatically.
And of course, for the, for the worst, it is not possible right now to do a proper humanitarian assessment that would be part of our, you know, re entry into that, that we need to get a handle on what, what are the volumes and so on and so forth of what is needed.
We don't need a full proper assessment before, but we send aid in and we have said consistently over over a long time that we need water, we need food, we need fuel, we need medical supplies as a as a as a minimum and and as a start.
Christian, you have a follow up.
One is, I think both are to Ravina or maybe also to Archer.
Are you, is the UN lobbying for this Rafa crossing to be open also for people to be evacuated, foreigners with The Who might have passports that would allow them to travel on or people who are in desperate need of medical care?
That's my first question.
The second one, Ravina, the the German speaking part of Switzerland has uh, denied, uh, demonstrations or is, is not allowing any demonstrations.
Is that OK or is that a problem?
So in Zurich it's any demonstration with regards to the conflict.
In Basil it's any demonstration periods because they are afraid that even if there's a Corona demonstration, some people might join to then talk about the conflict.
Maybe the first question is really for Jens, but also we have Margaret on online on for WHO if Margaret, you want to add anything on the issue of the wounded.
And yes, I have not seen that call.
I don't think it's, it's for me to to, to to comment on that.
What, what we, what we do know is that before this happened, there were people with chronic diseases who needed treatment outside of Gaza, who had permission to cross, including through Rafa crossing, who are now denied that treatment, which of course put them in in mortal danger.
Thanks for that question, Christiana.
It's an important one and it doesn't just concern one country.
So I will give you the, the international legal framework around your very important question.
States have an obligation to ensure a safe and enabling space for participation and debate.
They must not unduly restrict participation and debate or critical commentary about the conflict of expressions of solidarity with Israelis or Palestinians.
Restrictions are allowed under international humanitarian law.
However, any restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly must be based on law necessary for and proportionate to the risks, such as national security, public safety or public order.
The restrictions must never be discriminatory.
This is important, and they must never impair the essence of the right.
They must never be aimed at discouraging participation in assemblies or calling a chilling or causing a chilling effect.
Blanket bans on peaceful assemblies are thus disproportionate.
So I, I have a couple of questions for I guess Yens and and then for Ravina on something other than the Middle East.
For Yens, first of all you said sorry, do you mind if we give a chance to John first because it might be speaking about that and then we take your question and then we will go to the next item.
It's a follow up question from my colleague Jan to Yens.
Yesterday The Who told us that five of the 20 trucks would be medical supplies, equipment etcetera.
Do we have an update on how many more trucks might be going forward and what would be the ratio of food, medical supplies and and what is also urgently needed fuel?
Since Martin Griffith is on the ground, he's the lead on this and so many other special boys are acting on this.
So since the logistics are critical, can you give us a bird's eye view of the needs as of this morning?
I do not have an update on that.
So what are your questions to Ravina and Yancey that I let them go and we go to Afghanistan?
So if we're going to keep on on Gaza, the the question I had for Jens was you mentioned that you were dealing with certain modalities to to get aid into Rafa.
Could you expand on that?
And then also it seems from a conversation I had last week with UNRWA that the era's crossing in the north had been used in the past for people getting people into Gaza, staff into Gaza.
Is there is there any discussion or about opening that one for to get staff?
Is that part of the deal that's being discussed now regarding getting aid into Gaza?
The the crossings, I think we've been quite clear that the crossing we're looking at is rougher.
That is the lifeline to get into the area where more and more people are gathering.
That is of course from an operational standpoint, what's important for us that we get the most direct route to where most people in need are other crossings, including the one you mentioned from from Israel is of course for the Israelis to decide whether or not they would open it.
I think they have been rather clear that they were not going to do that.
But I will let them speak for themselves obviously in terms of I think it's a question of how many trucks in in, in total.
I think we've all seen that it has been reported and flying around the 20 trucks.
I just want to mention that that would be, of course, any truck that goes in would be more than the no trucks that are going in right now.
I'd like has there been any change on Israel's position in regard to sending fuel and allowing fuel to go in, which apparently is very essential for desalinization and water, electricity, lots of stuff.
And then what about your fears concerning this conflict spreading regionally, if you would speak about that, whether you're seeing more movement in from Hezbollah and for talking about the Hootie's now too, whether you're very fearful about this?
I think on the second question, the Secretary General has been extremely vocal about the fear, the concern of a possible extension of this conflict.
So I will send you back to the various declaration he has made on this.
It is obviously a very difficult situation that could spill over.
He's has been having, we have seen episode of violence also in other, in other areas.
So this is extremely concerning for us.
And of course, the work that we are doing is also to try and diffuse this this level of violence and reduce the the the danger of escalation.
I don't know if you want to say something about the fuel Yen, but I don't think that we can just go ahead.
But let me say this fuel is in many situations and in this particularly a life saving humanitarian commodity that needs to go in electricity.
There's been a blackout for 9 days now.
So things, hospitals, whatever is running on, on fuel on, on generators.
So if we don't get fuel in, there's no electricity.
And we know and we've heard from many of our colleagues what that means for people who are on different kind of, you know, life support in hospitals and so on.
So fuel is a life saving humanitarian commodity in this crisis.
Liza, just just to reiterate what I said at the beginning of what the secretary General said about issue of the extension of the conflict.
I, I read it before and I reread it now.
He said, we know the longer this goes on, the greater the risk of the violence spilling over.
And we must work to avoid this at all cost.
And I would really like to go to Afghanistan.
And then this is the last one, please, because we have a host, I guess.
Sorry, waiting for for his turn on the line.
Yes, thank you, Alessandra.
I I just want to know if medical personnel will be allowed to come in with with a convoy to help in hospitals.
Thank you as as as I said, sorry to to repeat myself.
We are Marty Griffith is in deep negotiations with the parties to try to reach an agreement on this and how that is going to look like, who would be what will be on this convoy, who will be on these convoys and so on and so forth.
So that's all I can say for now.
So thank you very much, Ravina and and Jens to Oh, sorry, Paula, you're right.
You had said that you would ask Ravina something else that is not in the Middle East.
So just the very, very last question, Mr Bouzai, please just ask for your indulgence for a last question.
It's true that Paula had said share the question for you on another subject.
Yes, thank you very much, Paula.
Go ahead and then we will go to Afghanistan.
Yes, so the the question that I had for Ravina was regarding the report that was published yesterday on Peru.
Well, first of all, I wanted to ask why the report took so long to publish after the the protests that took place earlier on as well, starting from last December, which led to quite a large number of people being injured and according to your report, 50 people being killed also.
I wanted to know it's, it's my understanding and it's according to a press report that the relationship between the, the, the, the, the government and the residents coordinator for the UN has been rather strained, strained and that he had been threatened with expulsion.
Can you elaborate a little bit on the relationship, the atmosphere of relations between the the government and the UN regarding reporting of human rights violations in the country?
The issues that we raised in this report and that were updated in the press release as well are still very much valid.
You're right that these protests took place last year.
However, there were further protests.
There was another wave of demonstrations that took place in July this year as well, during which 64 protesters and twelve officers were also injured.
The issues that we highlight here are very much valid issues of systemic discrimination, of racism.
The the the continued lack of accountability for the violations that were committed, violations and abuses that were committed during these protests.
They're very much still valid.
So we do hope that the recommendations of the report will be taken seriously by the authorities in Peru.
On the on the issue with the resident coordinator, it would not be appropriate for me to speak, given that I'm a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.
I can speak to our relationship with the authorities Now.
You'll see in the in the press release that the **** Commissioner has said he looks forward to continued cooperation with the Peruvian authorities and society at large for implementation of the recommendations that were set out in the report.
We are in touch with the business community.
We're in touch with civil society.
And we are trying to work with the authorities as well, both on pushing for accountability for the killings, injuries and, you know, the handling of these protests, but also on on a host of other issues.
So we hope that we can continue working with them on these very serious issues that affect a large proportion of the population of Peru.
Thank you very much, Ravine, and thanks for your briefing on Gaza and Israel.
So let's now go to the other big subject of the day.
We have this incredibly difficult situation in Afghanistan and to talk about it, Margaret has brought us Doctor Allah Abu Zaid, who is the health, Health emergencies team lead for WHO in Afghanistan.
He is reaching us from Kabul and I would like to welcome him very much.
Thank you very much for being here.
Margaret, would you like to start or should I give the floor directly to Doctor Abu Zaid?
Well, I'll just quickly add there was a question about the wounded or people going out of Gaza that normally we would have had several 100 people going every day for advanced medical care.
And, and they haven't, of course, been able to get those things.
And now with many of the hospitals with at least five hospitals not functioning and the Turkish Friendship Hospital, which provides cancer care, saying they've had to stop most services and they'll have to stop everything in the next 24 hours.
We have many, many people with their chronic conditions just not getting the care.
So I think that was the question you had before.
And yeah, delighted to have Doctor Allah.
Who's been up in dealing with this horrific earthquake and the health needs to tell us all about what's going on.
We've just put out a press release on the press release and media advisory about a press conference we're going to have on Monday for with an update on prevention and response to sexual sexual ***** and harassment.
So just to let you know that's coming and I've sent the notes to you all.
So over to you, Doctor Allah.
Thank you much and apologies for the Internet connection.
I am the team lead for emergencies of WHO office in Afghanistan.
And I have the pleasure to brief you from Kabul.
From 7 to the 15th of October, a series of 6.3 magnitude earthquakes hit her up province in the western part of Afghanistan.
I have personally seen how these multiple earthquakes flattened villages, displayed thousands of people and left many families in urgent need of humanitarian and health assistance.
Many people spend days digging under the rubble to search for family members who either died or got injured.
The disaster has severely impacted vulnerable population, especially women, girls, boys and elderly, who account for 90% of the deaths and injuries reported due to these earthquakes.
Many children are left off and one of them is a nine years old Yakub who I met in Kushkak village in Zandaja district that is mostly affected by the earthquake.
Yakub only remember when he was at school that a large piece of cement falling on his left left leg and the next thing he knew that he was in a hospital.
Not only he broke his leg, but also he lost his mother and three siblings, as well as his teacher and six classmates who died when the classroom scene collapsed.
The sense of loss is debilitating as aftershocks continue Yaqoob.
As other refugees, they are living in emergency tents.
Thousands of families are doing so, so the cold weather is coming where those refugees or those affected by the crisis are without shelter, proper food, water, sanitation facilities.
This increases the risk of diseases.
The surveillance system is working around the clock to prevent, detect and respond to outbreak prone diseases.
Over 114,000 people are in urgent need of life saving health assistance, especially in those cold white areas or underserved areas where the population had already very little access to essential health services.
Based on the initial assessment we conducted, at least 40 health facilities across 9 districts were reported damaged, including Hirat Regional Hospital, the biggest referral hospital in Hirat, resulting in severe disruption and access in health services for an estimated 580,000 people.
Health workers have been seriously affected by the disaster, either from loss of family members or from fear of collapsing health facilities, which make it even harder for them to provide health services for the communities and their community.
The health consequences are staggering.
Women have been disproportionately highly affected as one of the very first responders.
The World Health Organisation in Afghanistan was on the ground within the first hour and we have been supporting hospitals, especially the here at Regional Hospital to manage the mass of hundreds of incoming patients at once, treating the injured and providing medicines and medical supplies.
Thanks to the long and established presence in Europe and preparedness efforts of WHO have put in place across the country, we were able to rapidly mobilise resources, deploy medicines we have pre positioned in the province.
We have activated the mass casualty management system in the hospitals and extended immediate life saving support for the affected population at the most critical time of the emergency, which are the fairest few hours of the emergency.
This included also mobilising or sending mobile health and nutrition teams in close coordination with other 19 HealthPartners WHO has also immediately staff and health workers on the ground to support mental health and psychosocial services, Emergency Management, trauma care and maternal and child reproductive health services.
We are grateful to donors and partners that enabled us to mobilise resources at the most critical time, but the needs are huge to ensure sustainable health services as survivors are rebuilding their lives.
The cost of INACT will be life threatening to the thousands of vulnerable families who have long been facing a long term humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, WH One Health Cluster have launched an appeal of 7.9 million USD to ensure directly affected communities are provided with urgent and essential health services in for the next 6 months.
As the upcoming winter season is bringing new health risks, challenges and exposures to the affected population currently living outdoors or in tents, immediate and flexible resources are urgently needed to allow WTO to swiftly scale up to address emerging health needs and continue its emergency response to this disaster and in Afghanistan overall.
Thank you very much, Doctor Abu Zaid, for this extensive briefing on the situations.
Really indeed a very dire one.
Let me see if there are questions in the room for you.
So Lisa Schlein, who is our correspondent force of the barrack.
Lisa, you have the floor.
This appeal that you launched yesterday, this I guess is different from a 93 point the 93.6 bill, what is it $1,000,000 appeal that was launched the response plan I believe it was on Monday.
What is the the difference between the two and what sort of a response have you had from the appeal on Monday, which is much larger?
And why is it that I'm making an assumption that the response has not been very good, but why is it that there has been such a poor response to the needs of these people?
And then could you talk about that is a lot of people have been killed by the earthquake itself, but since then, what has happened to the survivors?
Have many of them died because of lack of humanitarian aid to their needs?
And what are your fears for the coming winter when if people don't get the aid they need?
Yeah, thank you so much for this important questions regarding the appeal, the appeal for the different sectors and areas of work like shelter, water, food and health is exactly what you what you have mentioned.
I have mentioned 7.9 for health only as part of the bigger appeal.
And regarding the how much positive responses we received in response to the appeal, as you correctly said, the appeal released on Monday and we are just following up and working with our donors to get as much support to the needs as possible.
I don't have a specific figure on that and I just want to confirm the response was adequate.
The initial phases of the response from all sectors were adequate and in in my brief I was calling for the intermediate and longer term needs of the population.
Especially as you correctly said, the survivors are in need of water, better shelter that can protect them from the harsh winter.
And last year here are experiences -30°C during winter time and winter is already started in in Afghanistan.
So there are needs for water and sanitation to stop any other any possible outbreaks.
So I just confirmed that the initial response was adequate and also reply to and saved a lot of lives of the survivors.
But we need to do more on the immediate and longer to cover the last sentence.
We couldn't really hear, Doctor, I don't know if you could have just repeated the, the connection was not really good, just the last sentence.
Sorry for the connection.
I was just saying that the initial response was adequate from all sectors.
We were able to save as much life as we could.
But my call for more resources is for the intermediate and longer term response to the crisis, because the survivors still need to cope with winters, with possible potential outbreaks and others as well.
And maybe I take the opportunity to ask Margaret if you can share the the notes that Doctor Abbasid used to to the journalists, because sometimes the connection was a little bit wobbly.
Mr Cheer, the global insights, Doctor Abbasi, thank you very much for for talking.
A quick question, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, they were WHO with a lot of the other health NGOs and so on, had actually had established hundreds of health centres in Afghanistan, not just Iraq, but all around the country.
I, I, I'm just wondering how many you're talking about the long term now, Umm, how many of these health centres are actually functioning properly?
Uh, and also if the ones which are, are they still open to women being able to go to the health centres without permission from their husbands, uh, or to do so under the Taliban, uh, without being questioned, uh, in order to, uh, to talk also to see any health healthcare specialists because that was very important as well before it was one of these neutral zones.
So I'm just wondering what, what is the situation of all these health centres today?
OK, thank you for the question.
As I have mentioned, we have more than 200 health facilities in here at in the province.
40 of them including the biggest referral hospital which is here at Regional Hospital have been damaged.
They experienced different levels of damaging and those facilities and maybe others as well are not used to provide health services because both patients and healthcare providers are rate of getting into the building because we can see clearly cracks and some damage to the building from inside and outside.
So the services now are provided from tents except for few health facilities that are providing health services from inside the building.
This is unfortunate I would say and needs an immediate action to restore and renovate and ensure services are provided inside health facilities especially during winter time.
Regarding the access of female patients to health facilities, we did not report or get any reports that says the female patients have limited or they don't have access to any type of health services.
WTO has deployed 21 female health workers, including doctors and midwives to the HERO.
They have been distributed over the different facilities to provide services for the female patients as well in special focus on reproductive health services, obstetrics and gynaecology services and child health services.
So there is no impeded access for female patients to reach health facilities and to access health services in the affected area in, in and in Afghanistan in general.
Thank you very much, Doctor.
I don't see other questions for you on the platform.
There are no other questions.
Good luck for your very, very important work.
And let me just conclude the briefing with a couple of announcements about the committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which is reviewing today the report of Uruguay, while the Human Rights Committee is concluding this morning the review of the report of the Republic of Korea.
So this is what I had for you.
If there are no other questions, I don't see any.
Thank you very much for having followed our briefing.
We will keep you updated during the day of any development.
And otherwise have a nice weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday.
